Fantasy sports system

ABSTRACT

Fantasy sports systems and methods comprising receiving a fantasy lineup roster including a plurality of players, each player assigned to a playing position and one or more of the plurality of players further assigned to one or more alternative positions, assigning scores to each of the plurality of players based on statistics derived from one or more real life competitions, receiving a notification of at least one substitution event, each substitution event associated with one of the players and also associated with a substitution segment within the one or more real life competitions, and calculating a fantasy lineup score by aggregating the assigned scores of each of the players assigned to a playing position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present subject matter relates generally to a fantasy sports system.More specifically, the present invention relates to both systems andmethods for managing fantasy sports rosters and scoring fantasy sportscompetitions.

Fantasy sports are extremely popular throughout the world. Likely themost popular form of fantasy sport is fantasy football with close to 75million American's taking part in at least one fantasy footballcompetition. Fantasy football competitions are typically set up in theform of a fantasy league. Each league has a set number of teams and themanagers of these teams select football players from the NationalFootball League (NFL) to be assigned to their team. Usually when aplayer is selected by one team in a league, no other team may selectthat player and thus a good deal of thought and strategy typically goesinto assembling each team's fantasy roster of NFL players. Once teamrosters are established, the teams in a fantasy league are matched up inone-on-one competitions based on a rotating weekly schedule, with awinner from each matchup being determined based off which team's rosterof players has scored more fantasy points. These fantasy points areawarded for positively contributing (or decremented for negativelycontributing) during an NFL game (for example, scoring a touchdown). Thehead-to-head matchups go on for a set number of weeks and eventually aleague champion is crowned based off either the best record in theleague or by winning the league playoffs.

While fantasy football is very popular, as evidenced by the number ofplayers in America alone, it is not without issues and room forimprovement. For instance, when a fantasy game is played, each teammanager is limited to selecting a portion of the players from theirteam's roster to create a starting lineup. A starting lineup consists ofone player from the roster exclusively assigned to an available startingposition (i.e., quarterback, running back, defensive end, 2 or 3 widereceivers, etc.). Only the players included in the starting lineupcompete in the fantasy matchup and have the opportunity to accumulatefantasy points. Consequently, all unselected players do not compete inthe contest and have no chance of receiving any fantasy points for thatgame.

This restriction of only selecting game starters becomes a much greaterproblem when a selected starter becomes unavailable. In the NFL, aplayer's playing status may change before or during the game. NFLcoaches make pre-game, game-time, and in-game decisions that impact aplayer's playing status. Further, player injuries happen frequentlyduring an NFL game. When a player becomes unavailable, no fantasy pointscan be earned for that player. Although a team's roster often includesone or more additional players that may play at the unavailable player'sposition, no substitution can be made during a fantasy competition.

Although the available starting positions and the values for calculatingfantasy scores may differ from league to league, the basic principles ofsetting a fixed starting lineup and calculating fantasy points remainfundamentally unchanged across all fantasy football leagues. Somefantasy games have attempted to allow players to be designated aspossible substitution players if a given situation arises, but theseattempts have failed to allow for any sort of meaningful strategy to beimplemented since substitutions are limited to strictly toplayer-for-player lineup swaps. By preselecting substitute players, afantasy manager will almost always select the positions that typicallycreate the most points. If any other positions have the starting playerbecome unavailable, no substitution will be made.

Another example of an issue with fantasy sports is that the level ofskill of real world players is not accounted for in current fantasysports scoring schemes. While accomplishments in a game are attributedpoints (e.g., sacks, touchdowns, field goals, etc.); current fantasysports systems do not account for the relative level of difficulty ofachieving such an accomplishment. A helpful example of this issue couldbe that of two running backs scoring three touchdowns in a game.Normally, this would be a boon for the fantasy teams which have therunning backs in their starting line-ups. However, if one of the runningbacks scored these touchdowns against the NFL's toughest defense and theother back was pitted against the NFL's weakest, the difficulty ofachieving the feat for the back facing a great defense is leftunaccounted for. Additionally in fantasy football, a field goal scoredin the first quarter is worth the same amount of points as an overtimegame winning field goal. This disconnect between fantasy points and themagnitude of real life player accomplishments allows for fantasyfootball victories to be achieved by picking players with beneficialmatchups rather than based off their efforts in games.

Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods for managingfantasy sports rosters and scoring fantasy sports competitions, asdescribed herein.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To meet the needs described above and others, the present disclosureprovides systems and methods for managing fantasy sports rosters andscoring fantasy sports competitions.

One embodiment of the invention is a computerized system which featuresan end-user interface which allows fantasy sports (in this embodimentfantasy football, but the system may be used to create fantasycompetitions for any professional, collegiate, or other form of sportingevent) leagues to be set up and managed by users. This end userinterface may be a hosted website which incorporates real time data froma sport's data statistics source, either external or internal. The dataprovided to the system website may include information on team rosters,game performance statistics, and any other relevant data used forfantasy sports scoring.

This system embodiment also features an interface through which usersmay draft teams of NFL players in the previously mentioned leagues andmanage these teams for the duration of the fantasy league's season.Management of each fantasy team is carried out via the system's depthchart manager (DCM), described here as an isolated system function whichin reality is seamlessly integrated into the fantasy sports system.

The DCM allows a fantasy team's manager to closely emulate the actionthat would be taken by an actual NFL team's head coach during a game.Practically, such an effect is achieved by the DCM providing the abilityfor fantasy sports team managers to set a sequential queue (depth chart)of players at every available position on a team within a fantasy sportsleague. Therefore, every available player has the potential ofparticipating in each game if a certain player or players becomeunavailable. Like real-life teams, if a player becomes unavailable on afantasy roster, the next available player is substituted into the gamebased on the player's placement in the DCM's depth chart.

To further improve the realism of fantasy sports competitions, the DCMcontains a positions matrix. The matrix defines all valid playingpositions and associated alternate position(s) (if any) based on aplayer's natural playing position. Also, an efficiency rating(percentage) is defined for each position. A natural playing position isthe position the real-life team assigned the player. An alternateplaying position is another position that the player is capable ofplaying (defined in the matrix based off real NFL statistics). The DCMallows a player to be placed in the depth chart at the player's naturalplaying position or at a defined alternate position that the player iscapable of playing. When a player plays at an alternate position, it isassumed that the player will be less effective than at his naturalplaying position. As a result, a player participating in an alternateposition will have a reduced efficiency rating compared to playing athis natural position.

For example, an offensive tackle (player's natural position) may beplayed at an offensive guard (valid alternate position). When scoringthe player, assume that he earned 30 points if playing at his naturalposition (100% efficiency). However, if instead, the player participatedat an alternate position, he was scored at 24 points (80% efficiency).In this way, a player capable of playing multiple positions can becompared and rated more fairly in relation to players who play thealternate position(s) as their natural position.

This embodiment and others may also feature a point scoring system thatprovides modified scoring for player's accomplishments on the fieldbased off how difficult (or easy) it was to accomplish an achievementduring the game. For example, points may be awarded using a slidingscale that accounts for the degree of difficulty of a given achievement.Modifications may be made based on an individual player involved in theplay. For example, when a player intercepts a star quarterback, theintercepting player is awarded a greater number of points than for anordinary interception. Similarly, modifications may be made based on theteam, or the specific unit of the team (e.g., nickel defensive unit),involved in the play. For example, a touchdown scored by a running backagainst a higher ranked defense (or, even more specifically, a defenseranked highly against the run) may be worth more points than a rushingtouchdown against a weaker defensive unit.

In some embodiments, the modified point scoring system utilizes anadvanced scoring matrix that need not be limited to just accounting forthe quality of players and teams. This matrix can also account forclutch plays (determined off the time left in a game, the score, etc.),weather conditions, or any other factors which can impact the difficultyof accomplishing an achievement during a game. The scoring modifiers mayalso be awarded, removed, and modified by the system constantlythroughout the game in response to positive or negative play of theplayers (e.g., penalties), changing weather conditions, the importanceof the game (e.g., the game is to clinch a playoff spot), or any otherfactors.

As an example of the advanced scoring matrix mentioned above, in afantasy football competition conducted as described herein, a defaultscore of 2 fantasy points may be granted to a player who intercepts apass during an NFL game. If advanced scoring is opted for by the leaguemanager, the score of 2 points awarded for an interception can bemultiplied by any number of factors which account for on the fieldperformance. If, for example, the quarterback intercepted was a starplayer, a modifier of 1.2 may be applied to the score of two; resultingin a fantasy score of 2.4 (2 multiplied by 1.2) being awarded to theintercepting player. Additionally, scoring modifiers may be compoundedby the system to produce a higher combined modifier if, for example, theinterception discussed above took place in the final minutes of a closegame. Since the final moments of a game are typically very important, aninterception during this time may be awarded an additional modifier of0.4. This “clutch” modifier of 0.4 may be combined with the previouslymentioned “star player” modifier of 1.2 to award the player a fantasyscore of 3.2 for the interception ((1.2+0.4)*2).

In contrast, poor play on the part of a player or the entire team mayalso be accounted for by the advanced scoring matrix. For example, apenalty may result in a loss of points. Using contextual modifiers, thenegative score may be greater magnitude if the penalty occurs in a moreimportant context. For example, a penalty at mid-field in the 1^(st)quarter may be less critical than a penalty on the goal line in the4^(th) quarter. Accordingly, the point penalty may be greater for thepenalty on the goal line in the 4^(th) quarter.

The systems and methods described herein can be implemented in anyfantasy sports context. For example, fantasy baseball, fantasybasketball, fantasy hockey, fantasy golf, etc. In an example usingfantasy hockey, points may be deducted when a player commits a penaltythat leads to a power play for the other team. A power play is awardedwhen one team commits a foul against the other team. The offending teamis penalized by the removal of one player from the ice for a set amountof time and, when such a penalty occurs, the odds of the penalized teamgiving up a goal significantly increases. Such a detriment can beaccounted for by negative points or, as an alternative, a pointdecrementing modifier can be used in a manner operate inverse to thepoint incrementing modifier discussed above. For instance, if a playercommits a slash (or any other hockey penalty) that results in a powerplay, their fantasy score may be multiplied by a modifier of 0.9. Thiswould mean if the player had accrued 2 fantasy points, this number wouldbe multiplied by 0.9 for a fantasy score of 1.8 as a reflection of theplayer's detriment to their team. The advanced scoring matrix may alsoaccount for if the power play actually cost the player's team a goaland, if such a negative consequence actually occurred, deduct additionalfantasy points from the penalized player. In this case, such anadditional deduction may mean adjusting the modifier from 0.9 to 0.7,resulting in the fantasy points (1.4, down from 2 originally) earned bythe player being reduced for poor play which resulted in a realizedbenefit for the other team.

The present invention may also be described as a fantasy sports system(or method of carrying out the following) comprising a memory configuredto store a set of instructions and a processor configured to execute theset of instructions, wherein the set of instructions cause the processorto receive a fantasy lineup roster including a plurality of players,each player assigned to a playing position and one or more of theplurality of players further assigned to one or more alternativepositions, each alternative position being a backup to a playingposition or another alternative position, assign scores to each of theplurality of players based on statistics derived from one or more reallife competitions, wherein the assigned scores are segmented in a mannerconsistent with a plurality of segments within the one or more real lifecompetitions, receive a notification of at least one substitution event,each substitution event associated with one of the players and alsoassociated with a substitution segment within the one or more real lifecompetitions, and calculate a fantasy lineup score by aggregating theassigned scores of each of the players assigned to a playing position.When one of the players mentioned in this paragraph is assigned to aplaying position is associated with a notification of a substitutionevent, the step of calculating a fantasy lineup score further includessubstituting the assigned score for the player assigned to thealternative position that is the backup to the playing position forwhich the notification of the substitution event relates for allsegments within the one or more real life competitions that occur afterthe substitution segment associated with the substitution event occurs.

The real life competitions monitored by the system may include Americanfootball games with the segments within the competition being quartersand/or segments within the one or more real life competitions are timeranges related to a game clock. Baseball games may also be monitored bythe system and the segments within the one or more real lifecompetitions are innings.

The system may also apply a score reducing modifier to the assignedscore for the player assigned to the alternative position that is thebackup to the playing position for which the notification of thesubstitution event relates. The magnitude of the modifier applied forthe player may be derived, at least in part, from at least one sportsstatistic which correlates to an aptitude required for the alternativeposition at which the player is assigned.

A score modifier may also be applied to the assigned score of a player,the score modifier being derived, at least in part, from temporal dataconcerning when the assigned score was earned by the player during areal life competition. A score modifier may also be applied to theassigned score of a player, the score modifier being derived, at leastin part, from at least one sports statistic which correlates to therelative aptitude of two or more players participating against oneanother in a real life competition.

The substitution event(s) accounted for by the system may include:injury, illness, ejection, suspension, or benching of a player whichoccur during a real-life competition. When a substitution occurs, thedata regarding such an event may be derived from a sports data source.

A goal of the present invention is to provide fantasy team owners with amore realistic playing experience than what is currently available infantasy sports. This is accomplished by placing an emphasis on theentire fantasy team. Since each fantasy team in this system has moreplayers than just starters, the depth of a fantasy team at everyposition is of critical importance since these players may enter afantasy lineup if a starter becomes unavailable (whether for injury orotherwise). This mirrors the real life need for sports teams to have notonly star players, but also capable backup players to fill in forplayers unavailable during a game.

Another goal of the present invention is to provide an advanced scoringsystem for fantasy sports. Current fantasy football scoring does notreflect the overall magnitude of the play in NFL games. Instead, thesame amounts of points are awarded for the same type of plays (e.g., aninterception) and fail to consider factors such as: who was intercepted(e.g., a star player), where the interception happened (e.g., within 20yards of the other team scoring), when the play occurred (e.g., gamewinning play), and if any penalties occurred on the play. Such factorscan be used to assign point modifiers to fantasy points earned byplayers and make the overall magnitude of the play in the real worldbetter accounted for in fantasy sports.

An advantage of the present system is that it automates an extremelycomplicated set of substitutions and provides to the user an interfacewhich allows for these substitutions to be quickly defined and updated.The present invention accounts for player's natural playing positions aswell as others at which they are competent and allows users to assignplayers to a user's fantasy depth chart according to which players arelikely to net them the most fantasy points. Additionally, not only areplayers replaced automatically by the system on a fantasy team'sstarting line-up when they become unavailable (injury or otherwise), butplayers are also replaced who are on a bye week. This alleviates theneed to constantly monitor a fantasy team and allows users to fullyenjoy watching sports or doing other activities while games areoccurring.

Another advantage of the present system is that it requires a good dealof thought and skill to formulate a winning team. Fantasy sports aredefined as a game of skill and must remain so to avoiding beingconsidered gambling in some places. A user creating a fantasy team usingthe present system is required to do use a good deal of skill whenbuilding depth at each position on a team's roster.

Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the examples willbe set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of thefollowing description and the accompanying drawings or may be learned byproduction or operation of the examples. The objects and advantages ofthe concepts may be realized and attained by means of the methodologies,instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawing figures depict one or more implementations in accord withthe present concepts, by way of example only, not by way of limitations.In the figures, like reference numerals refer to the same or similarelements.

FIG. 1 is a schematic overview of the fantasy sports system.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the fantasy sports system's depth chartmanagement function.

FIG. 3A is a roster set by a team manager user.

FIG. 3B is a points scored database for a substitution interval of acompetition monitored by the system.

FIG. 3C is a roster automatically updated by the system in response to asubstitution event.

FIG. 3D is an Average Points Per Game database.

FIG. 3E is a points scored database for a substitution interval of acompetition monitored by the system featuring a substituted player andpoints modifier.

FIG. 4 is a position score database.

FIG. 5A is a chart of valid offensive player positions that may bechosen by a team manager as part of an embodiment of the fantasy sportssystem.

FIG. 5B is a chart of valid defensive player positions which may bechosen by a team manager as part of an embodiment of the fantasy sportssystem.

FIG. 5C is a chart of valid special teams player positions which may bechosen by a team manager as part of an embodiment of the fantasy sportssystem.

FIG. 6 is an example of a portion of the GUI that the system displays toteam manager users.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic overview of the fantasy sports system 100. Asshown in FIG. 1, the fantasy sports system 100 may feature a centralizedserver 110 which receives sports data (e.g., statistics) from a sportsdata source 120 and communicates with a plurality of end users 130. Thesports data source 120 may be external (e.g., a sports statisticswebsite) or internal (e.g., an inhouse statistics database). The endusers may be league commissioners 132, team managers 134, or usersacting as both. These users interact with the centralized server 110 viaa graphical user interface (GUI) 112 which may be displayed to the userin the form of a hosted website, mobile device application, or any otherfunctional means. The users may create and manage fantasy sports leaguesand teams via the system's GUI 112 and the league data 115 related tosuch actions is stored on the centralized server's 110 memory 111.Further shown in FIG. 1, the centralized server's memory 111 also storesdepth chart manager (DCM) 113 and advanced scoring matrix (ASM) 114functions utilized by the system 100 to enable support of morecomplicated fantasy sports competitions. The central server 110 alsocontains a processor 116 which enables the server to carry out commandsbased off automatic and manual command inputs and a network interface118 which enables the central server 110 to communicate with end users130 and sports data sources 120 via the internet or any other functionalmeans.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the fantasy sports system's 100 depth chartmanagement function 113. As shown in FIG. 2, at a first step 201, aleague commissioner user 132 sets up the league rules for a givenfantasy sports league. These league settings define what rules andparameters the fantasy teams within a given league come under. Theserules may include what playing positions will make up a team (e.g., thenumber of running backs, wide receivers, etc.), if in-game substitutionsare allowed and the scoring scheme to be used for league games. Thesesettings are managed through a GUI 112 which may be utilized by a leaguecommissioner user 132 and any set-up or changes done through a leaguemanagement page of the GUI 112 are implemented and reflected via theoptions selectable within the GUI 112 page shown to team manager users134 (shown in FIG. 6).

After league settings are established, at a next step 202, team manageruser's 134 set up their roster of players (a roster 310 is shown in FIG.3A). Team manager users 134 place players into a roster 310 whichfeatures both starting players and backups who will be automaticallysubstituted by the system 100 if the starter is unavailable. Suchsubstitutions may be partially or fully automated by the system 100.

For example, in one embodiment of automated functionality, the system100 may take into account players who are cross listed with otherpositions at which they are competent. If an opening in a startinglineup occurs (e.g., an injury occurs) any player on a given roster 310who is competent at a given position may fill the open spot. If multipleplayers on a fantasy roster 310 are competent at the given spot (e.g., astarting wide receiver is injured and two backup players can play widereceiver) whichever backup player has a higher points per game averagewill be selected to fill the open slot. Such a substitution can occur inreal time based off data regarding injuries, etc. obtained from sportsdata source(s) 120. It should be noted the use of highest points peraverage score is used here to highlight how the system 100 may function,but the system 100 can use any number of data points and meta data aboutplayer performance, weather, game time, historical match-up data, etc.to analyze and elect the best available substitution for a givenposition.

The system 100 may be set up to monitor for substitution events (e.g.,injuries, suspensions, ejections, illness, benching, etc.) during agiven competition (e.g., sports game, car race, golf match, etc.) and,in the interest of fairness, the system 100 may lock rosters 310(featuring players designated as starters and backups) prior to thestart of the competition at a third step 203. Once a given competitionbegins, the system 100, at a fourth step 204 monitors data regarding thecompetition and if a substitution event occurs at step 205, the systemwill act automatically to substitute a backup player.

Such substitution may be set to occur based off whether a substitutionevent occurs within a given substitution interval or segment. Forexample, during a football game, there are several differentsubstitution intervals (or substitution segments) which may be electeddepending on league and/or team settings. Such substitution intervals orsegments may include each play of a game, each set of downs, eachpossession, each quarter, each half, or even on a weekly game-to-gamebasis. If a substitution event occurs during a competition (step 205)and a starting (or active backup) player becomes unavailable, the system100 will then substitute the next best available player on the roster310 (step 206). The system 100 will then continue to monitor competitiondata (step 204) until another substitution event occurs or thecompetition ends.

While the system 100 may be adapted to help each team manager optimizetheir fantasy team's performance, the amount of thought, skill, and workrequired when building a winning fantasy roster should not beunderstated. The system 100 merely maximizes a fantasy team's potential,but each user is responsible for selecting players to make up theirroster whose performances will reflect positively on each other. Thesort of in-depth research required to build a flexible and resilientfantasy roster mimics the work done by real world coaches and generalmanagers and will provide a steep increase in challenge to even the mostseasoned fantasy players.

FIG. 3A is a roster 310 set by a team manager user 134. As shown in FIG.3A, a roster may detail various fields of data about a given playerincluding, but not limited to: Player Name 311, Playing Position 312,Alternative Position 313, Active on Roster 314, Playing Position onRoster 314, and Injured 316. This roster 310 may be viewable by a teammanager user 134 via the system 100's GUI 112. The field Player Name 311notes the name of the player (e.g., Tom Brady) and the field PlayingPosition 312 notes the normal playing position of the given player(e.g., Quarterback). The Playing Position 312 form may also be used bythe system 100 to determine which player(s) on the roster 310 may beslotted into each of the active playing slots available for a givenroster 310. For example, in the roster shown in FIG. 3A, there may beone quarterback, one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers,a center, two guards, and two tackles active on the roster 310 at giventime (11 players matching the number of players allowed on an NFL teamat a given time). Additionally, five backup players are allowed to bedesignated on the roster 310 in the example shown.

It should be noted the number of active players on a roster 310, numberof players allowed to be active at given position at one time, etc. maybe edited via team and/or league settings. The system 100 may also beconfigured to receive any number of different roster compositions (nolimiting examples shown in FIGS. 5A-5C). For example, as shown in FIGS.5A-5C, in the case of fantasy football, a roster may include offensiveplayers, defensive players, and/or special teams players to more closelymimic a real like NFL team's roster of players.

The Alternative Position field 313 further enables the system 100 tosubstitute players present on the roster 310. Some players are capableof playing multiple positions in real life, and the present systemenables such capabilities to be replicated in fantasy sports by notingalternative positions for some players, enabling the system 100 tosubstitute these multi-positional players on a roster 310 if an activeplayer becomes injured, etc. For example, Jordan Howard is a runningback in the NFL, however he is also a somewhat skilled receiver.Although he does not play wide receiver in NFL, he could theoreticallyplay the position if called upon to do so. Accordingly, the system 100notes in the Alternative Position field 313 for Jordan Howard that hemay also be placed as active on the roster at the position of runningback. It is worth noting that not all players may have an alternativeposition, in which case the Alternative Position field 313 may be leftblank, noted a “N/A”, etc.

The Active on Roster field 314 indicates just that, with 11 players inFIG. 3A being allowed to be noted as active at a given time on a roster310. The Playing Position on Roster field 315 notes the playing positionof active players. For example, Martellus Bennett is noted as playing atTight End. If a wide receiver was to get injured, Martellus Bennettmight be moved from Tight End to Wide Receiver (since he is capable ofbeing placed at both positions on the roster 310), with the PlayingPosition on Roster field 315 being updated accordingly. The Injuredfield 316 indicates were a given player has become injured and is thusunavailable and in need of substitution by the system 100. Dataregarding injuries may be obtained in real time from one or more sportsdata sources including: sports statistics databases or websites, RSSfeeds, etc.

FIG. 3B is a points scored database 320 for a substitution interval of acompetition monitored by the system 100. A shown in FIG. 3B, the system100 may track the number of fantasy points scored for the active playerson a given fantasy roster for a given substitution interval. In thisexample, the system 100 is monitoring NFL games and the substitutioninterval is set at quarters, meaning after each quarter of the game, ifan injury occurs, a player will be substituted (if available) for anyinjured players noted as active. Much like the roster shown in FIG. 3A,the points scored database 320 features fields for Player Name 321 andPlaying Position on Roster 322. There is also a field which notes theSubstitution Interval 323 during which the fantasy points were scoredand the number of points scored (Points field 324). There is also aModifier field 325 which accounts for points deduced from a player'sscore for being placed out of their natural position on the roster 310(e.g., a running back placed at wide receiver to cover an injury).

FIG. 3C is a roster 310 automatically updated by the system 100 inresponse to a substitution event. As shown in FIG. 3C, Julio Jones,previously active on the roster in the position of wide receiver, hasbecome injured. The system 100 will detect such an injury (from a sportsdata source 120) and update the roster 310 to place an available playercapable of playing wide receiver as active on the roster 310 afterdeactivating the injured player. Such deactivation is demonstrated bythe roster record for Julio Jones having the fields Active on Roster 314changed to “No” and the Playing Position on Roster 315 changed to “N/A”.In his place, Jordan Howard has been automatically selected by thesystem to be activated, with the corresponding database fields (Activeon Roster 314 and Playing Position on Roster 315) updated as well.

The system's 100 decision to place Jordan Howard in the game was made,in this example, based off the average points per game scored by thevarious available players on the roster 310. Such data may be stored inan Average Points Per Game database 330 (shown in FIG. 3D) with thesystem 100 not only determining which player scores the most points pergame, but also how various modifiers applied to the points a playerscores might impact that players ability to score points when insertedas active on the roster 310. For example, Jordan Howard was selected bythe system 100 to fill the Wide Receiver 1 position on the roster 310.Examining the Average Points Per Game database 330 Jordan Howard scoresan average of 5 points per game (Points Per Game field 336) and has beenassigned by the system a points modifier (Alternative Position Modifierfield 334) of 0.7. Examining the rest of the available players on theroster 310 (also shown in the Average Points Per Game database 330)Marshawn Lynch, Martellus Bennett, Jordan Howard, and Travis Kelce canall be utilized as wide receivers through their ability to be assignedto an alternate position (Alternate Position filed 333). There are noavailable but inactive wide receivers on the roster.

The system 100 could potentially place Marshawn Lynch, MartellusBennett, Jordan Howard, or Travis Kelce in the place of the injuredJulio Jones. However, Marshawn Lynch is already playing his naturalposition and noted as scoring an average of 6 points per game. Amodifier of 0.6 is assigned to Marshawn Lynch if he was played at hisalternate position (wide receiver) meaning the system 100 projects himto score 3.6 points per game when played at his alternate position foran entire game. This same calculation is made by the system 100 forMartellus Bennett (1.8 points per game expected), Jordan Howard (3.5points per game expected), and Travis Kelce (1.6 points per gameexpected). Based off these calculations, the system 100 determines thatit is better to leave Marshawn Lynch at his natural position (where iscan potentially score 6 points per game) and then substitute in JordanHoward (at his alternative position) to potentially maximize the numberof points a given roster 310 might score.

The modifiers mention above may be predefined or determined in real timeand based off real life stats which relate to an aptitude required forplaying the substitution position. For instance, if Marshawn Lynchbegins catching more passes out of the backfield (acting as a receiver)his Alternative Position Modifier field 334 may be altered to deductless fantasy points for him playing out of position. Additionally, thepoints per game calculation mentioned here is just one example of howthe system 100 might determine which player should be substituted for anunavailable one. For example, real time or historical game statisticscan be used to determine if one player is having an unusually good gameand substitute that player instead of another player having a lessproductive outing. The system may also generate an alert to notify endusers 130 that the substitution has been made in the form of an SMSmessage, email, smartphone notification, etc.

The score reducing modifier shown in this example is just one of manymodifiers which the system 100 may utilize when calculating the fantasyscores for a given roster 310. For example, the system 100 may also beset up to apply a score enhancing modifier which accounts for clutchplays in a game. If Jordan Howard was to score a touchdown in the finalseconds of the fourth quarter of a game, this score might be assigned ascore enhancing modifier due to the temporal data related to this score.Other examples could include an interception by a defensive player atthe close of a quarter or game and the system 100 may also account forthe relative score between teams to apply other modifiers. If, in theexamples above, the touchdown or interception late in a game occurduring a blowout (with one team losing by a large margin) the scoreenhancing modifier may not be applied (or reduced in magnitude) by thesystem 100.

This clutch play modifier may be further reinforced by a choke playmodifier which is applied to the player(s) that, for example, allowedthe fourth quarter touchdown or interception to occur. This scorereducing modifier may interact with other modifiers (as is the case withall modifiers used by the system 100) to provide enhanced realism forfantasy football participants.

Still yet other modifiers may include metadata about the players whichimpact earned or surrendered fantasy points, scores, etc. For example,if Tom Brady was to be intercepted by a rookie cornerback, the score therookie cornerback receives might be boosted given Tom Brady's status asone of the best players in the NFL. Additionally, Tom Brady's scoremight be reduced by a larger amount as compared to giving up aninterception to the NFL's best defender, the extra reduction justifiedby allowing an inexperienced player to get the better of a seasoned pro.

Another modifier may be awarded based off overtime play. In many sportscompetitions, over time scoring may result in an immediate win for ateam and is considered extra important. A modifier may be assigned whichreflects the extra importance of performance in this time-span of agame. It should be noted that in some embodiments of the system 100, toaccess overtime points scored, the player must be substituted into thegame prior to overtime, preventing a fantasy team from unfairlybenefiting from overtime play after the fact.

FIG. 3E is a points scored database 320 for a substitution interval of acompetition monitored by the system 100 featuring a substituted playerand points modifier. A shown in FIG. 3B, the system 100 has replacedJulio Jones (injured in the first quarter of his game) with JordanHoward for the second quarter (Substitution Interval field 323). In thissubstitution interval, Jordan Howard scored 2 points and thus a modifierof 0.7 (Modifier field 325) will result in 1.4 fantasy points beingawarded to this fantasy team.

FIG. 4 is a position score database 340. As shown in FIG. 4, theposition of Wide Receiver 1 (Playing Position field 342) was played bytwo players Julio Jones and Jordan Howard (Player Name Field 341).Expanding on the example discussed above, Julio Jones was injured inQuarter 1 (Substitution Interval field 343) and the system 100 replacedhim with Jordan Howard in the Wide Receiver 1 playing position. JulioJones remained injured for the second and third quarters of his team'sgame, but was able to return for the fourth quarter. Accordingly, thesystem reinserted Julio Jones into the Wide Receiver 1 playing positionbecause his points per game average is 4 (as shown in FIG. 3D) versusJordan Howards 3.5 while playing at his alternative position.Accordingly, the fantasy team is given credit for the points (Pointsfield 344) Julio Jones scored in quarters 1 (1 point) and 4 (2 points),and the points (Points field 344 multiplied by the Modifier field 345)Jordan Howard scored in quarters 2 (1.4 points) and 3 (2.1 points) for atotal of 6.5 points at the Wide Receiver 1 position for this week's setof games.

After each week of NFL games concludes, the system 100 calculates whichfantasy teams have won their weekly head-to-head matchup and updates theleague standings to reflect this information. Also, worth noting is thatthe system automatically tracks positions at which players are competentso, if for example, a quarterback switches to running back afterinjuring his throwing hand mid-season, the system will automaticallyaccount for this change and fantasy teams with the quarterback turnedrunning back will now be able to play and substitute this player at boththe quarterback and running back positions. In one example, the player'sposition eligibility includes each position for which the player hasstarted a minimum of 20% of the snaps taken by that player. However, thespecific threshold for a given league may be configurable by the leaguemanager.

FIG. 5A is a chart of valid offensive player positions that may bechosen by a team manager user 134 as part of an embodiment of thefantasy sports system 100. As shown in FIG. 5A, team manager users 134may choose from any number of possible combinations of players to placein their starting lineup. League commissioner users 132 may alsodetermine what offensive lineups are allowed in their league; with theidea being each team manager acts more like an NFL coach, choosing alineup consisting of lineman, backfield players, and receivers. Alsonoted in FIG. 5A, like real NFL teams, fantasy football teams in oneembodiment of the fantasy sports system 100 may have three positionalcategories to account for: offensive players (discussed above),defensive players (discussed in FIG. 3B), and special teams players(discussed in FIG. 5C).

FIG. 5B is a chart of valid defensive player positions and formationswhich may be chosen by a team manager user 134 as part of an embodimentof the fantasy sports system 100. Similar to the offensive positionalcategory discussed in FIG. 5A, a team manager user 134 may select fortheir fantasy team lineman, linebackers, and defensive secondary playerssimilar to what a real NFL coach would do. FIG. 5B further discloses alist of potential defensive formations which may be selected by the teammanager user 134 and/or pre-defined by a league commissioner user 132.The defensive formation selected or mandated determines how many of eachdefensive position player will be in a team's lineup. The formationexamples used are merely provided for illustrative purposes, it isunderstood that additional formations and positions may be included.

FIG. 5C is a chart of valid special teams player positions which may bechosen by a team manager user 134 as part of an embodiment of thefantasy sports system 100. Much like the functionality discussed inFIGS. 5A-5B, team manager users 134 may choose what players they wish toinsert into their starting lineup at various special teams positions.Unlike the offensive and defensive playing position categories however,special teams has a set number of players at each position; there are noformation changes that may be made. The rules surrounding formation andplayer position settings may change as the rules of the NFL (or anyother sport which the system is tracking) change and evolve.

While the roster options discussed above allow players a good deal ofcontrol, in order to maximize realism, the roster settings for a fantasyteam may be matched to those of the active player requirements for areal NFL team. Such rules may include the ability for a fantasy team tocarry 53 players on its roster but have only 46 of these players activefor each fantasy matchup. Additionally, information such as a fantasyleague's salary cap may be made to match the NFL's cap, as well as therules around trades and the trade deadline. All of these rules andsettings are configurable options when a fantasy league is set up andallow for the system to accommodate more traditional or casual fantasyfootball competitions, while also supporting hyper realisticcompetitions which mimic the work a real NFL front office undertakes. Itshould also be noted the number of players to make up a fantasy roster310 can be altered from embodiment to embodiment of this invention, withthe system 100 also being capable of monitoring and auto-substitutingwhole teams (e.g., Chicago Bears), portions of a team (e.g., one hockeyline over another), all the way down to the individual position leveldepending on the type of fantasy sports competition.

FIG. 6 is an example of a portion of the GUI 112 that the system 100displays to team manager users 134. As shown in FIG. 6, the roster 310(shown in FIG. 3A) of a fantasy team may be manipulated through the useof a GUI 112. In this case, the GUI 112 features a breakdown of aportion of the roster 310 in the form of a depth chart. This portion ofthe GUI 112 enables team manager users 134 to set their preferred orderof substitutions in the event an injury, etc. occurs to one of theactive players (indicated on the GUI 112 by shading in this case) on theroster 310. The system 100 may use this ranking in part or in whole todetermine how substitutions are carried out by the system 100 inresponse to a substitution event.

For example, if Julio Jones was to become injured, Travis Kelce is notedas being the next wide receiver on the depth chart and, if the system100 was solely set to substitute players based off the ranking setwithin the GUI 112, would automatically substitute in Travis Kelce.Alternatively, the system 100 may also utilize various statisticscollected about the players on a given roster 310 to automaticallysubstitute another, better performing player and override thesubstitution order set within the GUI 112. One such example being JordanHoward who, as discussed in FIGS. 3A-4, could potentially earn morepoints than Travis Kelce and is thus substituted over him in place of aninjured Julio Jones.

The depth chart displayed to team manager users 134 may vary dependingon the league settings defined by a league commissioner user 132. Forexample, in some leagues, once rosters 310 are locked for a week offantasy sports competition, team manager users 134 may no longer be ableto adjust the players which they have set as active on their roster 310for the week, but the team manager users 134 may be able to adjust backup players for the various active positions post roster 310 lock. If ateam manger user 134 anticipates that a player has the potential to havea great week, the manager 134 would not be able to substitute the playerin place of a player marked as active on the roster 310 (post rosterlock). However, if the backup players have yet to begin their respectivereal world game(s), the manager 134 could move this player up to be thenext in line to be substituted as active on the roster 310 if an injuryoccurred. The system 100 may also automatically update the order ofpotential substitutions in real time based off sports statics, etc. Thedepth chart might also be set to not allow cross substitution of playersat various positions, adding more complexity and challenge toconstructing a fantasy football roster 310.

The above figures focus on an instance of the system 100 which monitorsdata from NFL (or college) football games, but the system 100 may alsobe used for other types of fantasy sports. In the case of fantasybaseball, the system 100 would again have a roster 310 of players, someof whom would be designated as active players and some designated asback-ups. The system 100 would monitor each substitution segment (orinterval) of any number of baseball games (each inning being asubstitution segment in this example) for the occurrence of asubstitution event. A substitution event could be an injury, ejection,etc. which cause a player to become unavailable for play. If such asubstitution event was to occur, the system 100 may substitute in thenext best available player on the roster 310. Like with the running backplaying out of position example given earlier in this application, thesystem 100 may be configured to apply a score reducing modifier if, forexample, an outfielder becomes unavailable and is replaced on thefantasy roster with an infielder. Since the infielder could likelyactually play the outfield in real life, but at a reduced capacityversus a full-time outfielder, the score reducing modifier acts to addrealism to a substitution made on a fantasy roster 310.

Turning to fantasy hockey, the system 100 may also be configured tomonitor and automatically update a fantasy hockey roster 310. Again,similar to the football and baseball examples, a team manager user 134sets a team roster 310 with various hockey players. Some of theseplayers are designated as active while others are backups. If forexample, a goalie is injured in the third period (periods being thesubstitution segment in this example), the system will automaticallysubstitute in a backup goalie and if one is not available, designatedanother defenseman as the goalie on the fantasy roster and apply a scorereducing modifier to simulate the real-life effect of having a lesscapable player play the goalie position.

Still yet other sports may be monitored by the present system 100including golf. In the case of fantasy golf, the roster 310 and numberof active players therein might be much smaller (even a single activegolfer and one backup) than a baseball or football team but the system100 can still monitor the performance of the active golfer(s) forinjuries, etc. If such a substitution event occurs, the system 100 maysub in another golfer and apply a score reducing modifier if, forexample, the back-up golfer is notably less skilled than the originallyactive golfer.

It should be noted that various changes and modifications to thepresently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention andwithout diminishing its attendant advantages.

I claim:
 1. A computer-implemented method of scoring in a fantasy sportsleague comprising the steps of: providing a system server incommunication with a sports data server and a weather data server via acommunications network; receiving, in the system server, a sports datasource from the sports data server, wherein the sports data sourceincludes real time statistics derived from one or more real lifecompetitions; receiving, in the system server, real time weather datafrom the weather data server, wherein the weather data is related toweather conditions specific to each respective one of the one or morereal life competitions; storing, in the system server, a score enhancingmodifier, wherein the score enhancing modifier instructs the systemserver how to modify one or more scores based on the weather data;receiving, in the system server, a fantasy lineup roster including aplurality of players, each player participating in one of the one ormore real life competitions, each player assigned to a playing positionand one or more of the plurality of players further assigned to one ormore alternative positions, each alternative position being a backup toa playing position or another alternative position; assigning, by thesystem server, the one or more scores to each of the plurality ofplayers based on the statistics derived from the one or more real lifecompetitions, wherein the assigned scores are segmented in a mannerconsistent with a plurality of segments within the one or more real lifecompetitions; modifying, by the system server, the assigned score of aplayer in real time by the score enhancing modifier based on the weatherdata specific to the one of the one or more real life competitionsrelevant to the statistics upon which that player's assigned score isbased; receiving, in the system server from the sports data server, anotification of at least one substitution event, each substitution eventassociated with one of the players and also associated with asubstitution segment within the one or more real life competitions; andcalculating, by the system server, a fantasy lineup score by aggregatingthe assigned scores of each of the players assigned to a playingposition; wherein, the step of calculating a fantasy lineup scorefurther includes substituting the assigned score for the player assignedto the alternative position that is the backup to the playing positionfor which the notification of the substitution event relates for allsegments within the one or more real life competitions that occur afterthe substitution segment associated with the substitution event occursand further modifying the assigned score for the player assigned to thealternative position by a predetermined score reducing modifier thatrepresents a reduced value to the fantasy lineup roster from the playerassigned to the alternative position.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe one or more real life competitions are American football games andthe segments within the one or more real life competitions are quarters.3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more real life competitionsare American football games and the segments within the one or more reallife competitions are time ranges related to a game clock.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the one or more real life competitions are baseballgames and the segments within the one or more real life competitions areinnings.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein an additional score reducingmodifier is applied to the assigned score for the player assigned to thealternative position that is the backup to the playing position forwhich the notification of the substitution event relates.
 6. The methodof claim 5, wherein the magnitude of the additional score reducingmodifier applied for the player is derived, at least in part, from atleast one sports statistic which correlates an aptitude required for thealternative position at which the player is assigned.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the score enhancing modifier is derived, at least inpart, from temporal data concerning when the assigned score was earnedby the player during the one or more real life competition.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the score enhancing modifier is derived, atleast in part, from at least one sports statistic which correlates tothe relative aptitude of two or more players participating against oneanother in the one or more real life competition.
 9. The method of claim1, wherein the substitution event is an injury, illness, ejection,suspension, or benching of a player which occurs during the one or morereal-life competition.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein thenotification of the substitution event is received from an externalsports data source.
 11. A fantasy sports system comprising: a sportsdata server; a weather data server; a system server in communicationwith the sports data server and the weather data server via acommunications network, the system server including: a memory configuredto store a set of instructions; and a processor configured to executethe set of instructions, wherein, when executed, the set of instructionscause the processor to: receive a sports data source from the sportsdata server, wherein the sports data source includes real timestatistics derived from one or more real life competitions; receivingreal time weather data from the weather data server, wherein the weatherdata is related to weather conditions specific to each respective one ofthe one or more real life competitions; receiving a score enhancingmodifier, wherein the score enhancing modifier instructs the systemserver how to modify one or more scores based on the weather data;receive a fantasy lineup roster including a plurality of players, eachplayer participating in one of the one or more real life competitions,each player assigned to a playing position and one or more of theplurality of players further assigned to one or more alternativepositions, each alternative position being a backup to a playingposition or another alternative position; assign scores to each of theplurality of players based on statistics derived from the one or morereal life competitions, wherein the assigned scores are segmented in amanner consistent with a plurality of segments within the one or morereal life competitions; modifying the assigned score of a player by thescore enhancing modifier based on the weather data specific to the oneof the one or more real life competitions relevant to the statisticsupon which that player's assigned score is based; receive, from thesports data server, a notification of at least one substitution event,each substitution event associated with one of the players and alsoassociated with a substitution segment within the one or more real lifecompetitions; and calculate a fantasy lineup score by aggregating theassigned scores of each of the players assigned to a playing position;wherein, when one of the players assigned to a playing position isassociated with a notification of a substitution event, the step ofcalculating a fantasy lineup score further includes substituting theassigned score for the player assigned to the alternative position thatis the backup to the playing position for which the notification of thesubstitution event relates for all segments within the one or more reallife competitions that occur after the substitution segment associatedwith the substitution event occurs and further modifying the assignedscore for the player assigned to the alternative position by apredetermined score reducing modifier that represents a reduced value tothe fantasy lineup roster from the player assigned to the alternativeposition.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more real lifecompetitions are American football games and the segments within the oneor more real life competitions are quarters.
 13. The system of claim 11,wherein the one or more real life competitions are American footballgames and the segments within the one or more real life competitions aretime ranges related to a game clock.
 14. The system of claim 11, whereinthe one or more real life competitions are baseball games and thesegments within the one or more real life competitions are innings. 15.The system of claim 11, wherein an additional score reducing modifier isapplied to assigned score for the player assigned to the alternativeposition that is the backup to the playing position for which thenotification of the substitution event relates.
 16. The system of claim15, wherein the magnitude of the additional score reducing modifierapplied for the player is derived, at least in part, from at least onesports statistic which correlates an aptitude required for thealternative position at which the player is assigned.
 17. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the score enhancing modifier is derived, at least inpart, from temporal data concerning when the assigned score was earnedby the player during the one or more real life competition.
 18. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the score enhancing modifier is derived, atleast in part, from at least one sports statistic which correlates tothe relative aptitude of two or more players participating against oneanother in the one or more real life competition.
 19. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the substitution event is an injury, illness,ejection, suspension, or benching of a player which occurs during theone or more real-life competition.
 20. The system of claim 11, whereinthe notification of the substitution event is received from an externalsports data source.